Thursday, March 12, 2015

My cross stitching has taken a back seat to my knitting for the past couple of weeks. I am not sure why, but I have become obsessed with knitting. I mentioned in a post last month that I was knitting a sock & I wasn't sure if it was going to fit or if I was going to have enough yarn left to make its partner. I had started, frogged, & restarted this sock so many times ... & when I tried it on it sure enough didn't fit ... so I frogged it again & decided to make a bunny with it. More about this in a future post : )

I did start knitting (& frogging & restarting & frogging & restarting again) another sock & I think I'm as close to getting it to fit as I'm going to get, so much so that I finished it & started knitting its partner. More about this in a future post too : )

I also found some absolutely drop dead gorgeous hand painted yarn that makes my heart beat a little faster just thinking about it! Not good for someone with a-fib, but I don't care. I'll take an extra pill & deal with it : ) This yarn is hand painted by a yarn painting genius with a home based business. More about this in a future post as well : )

So what am I posting about here? It's the fact that I haven't only become obsessed with knitting, I have become obsessed with sock yarn minis! These are little mini skeins of sock yarn which can hold anywhere from 12 yards to 90 yards. I think the norm is 20-25 yards. Ravelry caused this mini obsession for me. I joined one of the groups there & saw a swap of mini sock yarn skeins. When I checked it out & saw all the things you can knit with them, I was hooked like an addict gets hooked to meth. Well, not that bad I guess ... but close : ) I began searching high & low for mini sock yarn skeins. I searched eBay, I searched Etsy, & I searched every yarn shop that Google suggested. I have been receiving wonderful, wonderful packages of mini sock yarn skeins over the past two weeks & there's more a'comin ... lol! In no particular order, here are the ones I've received thus far.

This first batch contains the largest skeins, each containing 90 yards of beautifully soft & colorful 100% wool. These are from a yarn shop called Woolbearers in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. Myra, who I believe is the owner, is one of the nicest (not to mention one of the most patient) people I have ever dealt with : ) She even included two little balls of yarn that she had left over from winding other skeins! Didn't I tell you she was a nice person?

This next batch of skeins is from an online business called KnitCrate. KnitCrate offers mini skeins to buy outright in sets of 5 or 10. I ordered 5 sets of 10 for a total of 50 minis! And it seems that whatever you purchase from KnitCrate, it comes in a little drawstring net bag which you can use to wash delicates, use as a project bag, or just store your precious yarns : ) Here are my mini skeins in the net bag & also all dumped out on the floor. Can you see that the drawstring on the bag is made from ribbon with the KnitCrate name printed on it?

Here are the skeins separated into their sets ...

... & here is a closer look at each set.

Baah Yarns La Jolla

Koigu

Shalimar Yarns Zoe Sock

Jorstad Creek Tweed Sock

Madeline Tosh Sock

KnitCrate also has various yarn clubs you can join. As far as the minis are concerned, you can sign up to receive either 5 or 10 surprise minis each month. I signed up to receive 10 : )

One more thing about KnitCrate. They offer a point program. For every dollar you spend, you receive 1 point. You can redeem your points at any time, I believe, & put them toward the price of your order. I like this : )

Next are a few wool skeins I purchased from an Etsy shop, AstraeaMeris. The owner dyes all her yarns herself & she does a beautiful job! She was kind enough to send me a few little freebie skeins as a thank you. Thoughtfulness like that goes a long way with me. As you can see, I haven't opened the little skein packages yet. I'm looking forward to doing so : )

And finally, here are two sets of minis I purchased from another Etsy shop, LadyDanio. Sarah, the owner, purchases the sock yarns & makes these mini skeins to sell. A good idea, me thinks : ) The color sets below are Winter Wonderland & True Blood. I just purchased a new set that Sarah listed this morning ... Spectrum Rainbow : )

I have several projects in mind for these (& future) minis. I need to make a few more pairs of socks first though, & finish my bunny, & maybe knit a few other things. You know, it will be hard to pull apart these mini skeins. They look so pretty just as they are. Can't you see them stashed in a few baskets around my crafting studio? Oh wait ... I don't have a crafting studio. I guess I'll be using them after all : )

Wow, so much wool and so many shades and colours. I love it all!! I have a few skeins of Koigu and must confess that it's so pretty to look at - I know what you mean about not wanting to open some of the packs.

I'm not a knitter, so I don't really know anything about yarns....however, these colors are amazing and beautiful! You are right--they would look pretty piled in a basket in your or my studio. Oops, I don't have a studio either! :)Such pretty colors--and I even love the little drawstring bag!! I'm a sucker for anything "extra"!!!

Oh my, those yarns are so pretty! I can't wait to see what you make with them. I've never heard of sock yarn minis and have no idea what other things are made with them, but it makes my heart beat a little faster just looking at your skeins!